The IGDA is hosting two impressive game jam events this month, the eJam and the IGDA x Core Game Jam! Read below to hear about $5,000 in prizes and how to give back to students with mentoring teams! 

IGDA x Core Game Jam

The IGDA x Core Game Jam is running until June 21st and encourages developers to take advantage of the powerful Core toolset to quickly generate games. If you ever wanted to experiment with level design, test out a rapid first or third person prototype, or just enjoy a low-stress game jam with friends, this is the perfect opportunity. Not only is there $3,000 in prizes for the winners of this jam, but also $2,000 in prizes to those help garner interest in the event! 

Core makes prototyping and iteration fast, so it’s a great platform for Game Jams, especially if you want to quickly set up a 3D multiplayer experience. You can get started making games right away using thousands of free, high quality music, sound, and art assets, with no coding required. You can make a highly polished game in just a few hours!

Core is backed by the power of the Unreal engine, and it lets you create and customize your game as you see fit, from custom game logic in Lua to unique models you can combine from kitbashed primitives to a fully featured terrain editor.

$3,000 in prizes for the winners of the IGDA x Core Summer Game Jam: 

• 1st Place – $1,000USD Amazon gift card
• 2nd Place – $500USD Amazon gift card
• 3rd Place – $300USD Amazon gift card
• 4th-10th Place: $100USD Amazon gift card
• Best Mini-game: $300USD Amazon gift card
• Best Audio Design: $300USD Amazon gift card

And nearly $2,000 in prizes for the top three referrers of IGDA x Core Game Jam teams: 

• 1st Place – $1000USD Visa debit card 
• 2nd Place – $600USD Visa debit card 
• 3rd Place – $300USD Visa debit card 

Refer your friends to https://itch.io/jam/coreigda-2020 and have them enter your name as their referrer when they submit their entry to win! 

eJam – IGDA’s Virtual Game Jam for Students

Students everywhere have experienced severe disruption to their study and their lives as schools and universities have had to move online. The IGDA is hosting our first ever eJam completely virtually to help high school and college students learn more about game development while expanding their portfolios. This jam is being generously sponsored by Manticore Games, Obsidian Entertainment, and Unity. 

The core goals for eJam are:

1. Promote the academic and social benefits of game development, particularly in STEMs
2. Teach students about tools and technology to advance their game development and general skills
3. Provide students with important game development practice and knowledge
4. Connect students with a valuable network of mentors and peers for a career in game development
5. Help students build their portfolio for game development careers
6. Alleviate stress and social isolation fatigue by providing students with an interesting and socially interactive experience

84% of teens own a video game console and 90% say they play video games, so video games are a perfect medium to connect with them and show them the importance of STEMs.

The eJam will run for 48 hours from 3pm PDT June 26 to 3pm PDT June 28, 2020. A keynote and introductory talks will be presented on June 26th. The jam will start at 6pm in the team’s selected time zone and their submission will be due 48 hours later.

Teams will consist of up to 5 student members and at least one professional game developer mentor. You can sign-up to mentor a team here.

If you or your company would be interested in sponsoring this event to support students, replace cancelled internships, and recruit the next generation of game developers, please contact us.